Kosmo Posted July 7, 2007 Report Share Posted July 7, 2007 To answer the broader question: remember that Greco-Roman religion is not a coherent, monolithic entity. It is a collection of cults for each deity. To study why this and that go with such and such god, you have to research the cult and myth of said god. Worse still: a greek god had several ephitetes having to do with different attributes or stories often in contradiction with each other. And of course there are large variations of cults and of stories in different places and different ages. For example in the city of Athens Athena Hippeia was the inventor of chariot and being connected in this way with horses she was the daughter of ... Poseidon that is usually her rival in mytical competitions held to choose the favorite deity of the city. Of course, she had another temple as Athena Parthenon. She it's famous for her connection with owls that are on the athenian coins, but, if I'm not mistaken she had also a cult in Brauron, near Athens, where she was a bear female and was worshipped by little girls. To see only the way in which the athenians worshipped her during the Classical Age it's complicated enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted July 7, 2007 Report Share Posted July 7, 2007 Some answers are less obvious. The ram is associated with Hermes. Why? Because Hermes was to the Arcadians a god of flocks and fertility, and the ram was an animal indicative of pastoral fertility. Funny how in astrology the sign Aries (the ram) is associated with the planet of Mars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 Some answers are less obvious. The ram is associated with Hermes. Why? Because Hermes was to the Arcadians a god of flocks and fertility, and the ram was an animal indicative of pastoral fertility. Funny how in astrology the sign Aries (the ram) is associated with the planet of Mars! Well actually it's one of those answers that's once again less obvious... To quote Wikipedia (because it's easy here): "The word Mars has no Indo-European derivation, it is most likely the Latinized form of the agricultural Etruscan god Maris. Initially the Roman god of fertility and vegetation and a protector of cattle, fields and boundaries, Mars later became associated with battle as the growing Roman Empire began to expand." One interesting explanation I've seen for Mars' evolution from fertility god to war god (aside from the obvious fields & boundaries part) as proposed by Georges Dum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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